Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Somewhere along the way to Kripalu last week I had the notion that I’d like to get a picture with Dr. Jay, Seane Corn, and myself. This is before I had met the fine Jay Winston. There weren’t many pictures of him around the Internet, so I didn’t know what he looked like. So in my mind’s eye there was a man sitting in the picture, but I couldn’t really imagine what it would look like. Well here it is! Mission accomplished. Thank you, Seane! Loved the program.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Wow! I met Jay Winston (Dr. Jay) of the fabulous blog, Yoga for Cynics! He is just awesome in person.

We met at Kripalu for a weekend program with Seane Corn called "Empower Flow Yoga."

The program was really great, and Seane Corn was inspiring, but mostly I'm just blissed out.

It was a beautiful cocktail of meeting an Internet and heart-friend, Jay, and just enjoying that and feeling like Jay was also enjoying… Also included in the mix was the yoga—a great reminder of the magic, beauty and challenge in life, but it was also an incredible release from some tension and unnecessary baggage I was carrying… And the incredible beauty that we found surrounding Kripalu and in the woods (and beauty period.)! A spectacular Fall! Oh! It was just great!

Sunday, October 17, 2010

'Guess I’m just high after my heavily-yogified weekend. The picture above is a window into some of the scene. Really great people.

I just really want to check in, not knowing if I have anything much to say…

I love yoga. It has challenged me so absolutely. It has closely walked with me for about the last eleven years. Wow to yoga! What a ride… So different than anything I might have expected of myself. But so satisfying as I navigate all of the personal and professional challenges that yoga has brought to me.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

It's my latest post at Elephant, where I peruse the November 2010 issue of Yoga Journal. My sensibilities were jarred, at first, upon seeing the naked ads in light of Judith Hanson Lasater's published letter in the September 2010 issue. I was surprised that it seems as though nothing changed. But then I found myself questioning the necessity of restraint in representation—especially when it comes to telling others what to do.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

It’s the time of year when straw people are hangin’ out just outside people’s homes. Who are these straw people? They don’t have a clear gender or certain form. Where do they stand on gender politics or race relations in America?

Whenever I’ve thought about it, I have felt uncomfortable about Columbus Day and Thanksgiving because these are days that honor the conquering of North America. Which required bloodshed. Also, the way America was built has had something to do with slavery and injustice. Don’t feel too proud of that…

According to Wikipedia, “The city of Berkeley, California has replaced Columbus Day with Indigenous People's Day since 1992 a move which has been replicated by several other localities. Two other California cities, Sebastopol and Santa Cruz, now celebrate Indigenous People's Day. South Dakota renamed the holiday "Native American Day". Various tribal governments in Oklahoma designate the day "Native American Day", or name the day after their own tribe.”

I think they have the right idea with “Indigenous People’s Day” and “Native American Day”. Why do we celebrate “Columbus Day”? Those colonialist ways should definitely be called into question.

I don’t really think that we should make it a “National Self-Loathing Day” or “Hate other People Day”, but to just move forward feigning ignorance is also not appropriate.

Here’s a blog by Emma Silverman of The Joy of Yoga that has a cool video that asks us to reconsider Columbus Day:Columbus Day Reconsidered.

Apparently, October 11 is also National Coming Out Day: Celebrate individual expression, and read this blog by Krystal Baugher on Elephant Journal:5 Reasons to Be More Queer This Year.

Happy “You” Day! Let’s celebrate uniqueness within our connected culture. Nobody should be left out! All people merit love.

Listening is Love

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Inspired by 'Light on Yoga'

I have been writing a series of posts inspired by the Introduction to Light on Yoga by B.K.S. Iyengar. I started the project because every time I read the intro I thought that every paragraph just seemed so dense and powerful! The word "introduction" didn't seem to accurately describe the contents of that section to me; it seemed more like a treatise on the subject. So I thought that it might be fun to dig in and look at each paragraph and do a post about it.